Two years ago today

Two years ago today I arrived back in Orlando with Chakisae. I was exhausted and dirty and lugging around a tired and scared (but still remarkably good-natured) toddler.
We are so lucky she is ours now.














What an amazing little girl - so full of fun, of laughs, of song, of silliness.
When I first met her (see photos in the frilly pink dress) she was so quiet, so scared, and yet still so agreeable. She just kept sitting with me, and it only took a few hours before I got a glimpse of that amazing, mega-watt smile.
I loved my week in Ethiopia -- loved meeting the other families, seeing the countryside, etc -- but it was so nice to come home, to have Chakisae finally meet Jim and Ben. To start our new life as a family of four. They met us at the airport. Kisae looked confused, but she let Jim hold her and Ben, too (and thank goodness for that -- he'd been waiting for a sibling for so long, an airport rejection would not have gone well).
In some ways, the two years have just zipped by. In others, it's hard to even imagine a time when she wasn't with us. Our life is better with her, our "whole fambely," as she says, some how more complete now that she is here.
One of her preschool teachers wrote on her weekly report that Chakisae is a "joyful child." So true.